Page 21 of The Sleeping Girls

Ruby:No, once it’s on the internet it’s there forever.

Ruby pushed her hair from her face with the back of her forearm. Kelsey was usually the solid one. She had confidence. She straddled the line between the popular girls and Ruby and June. She could fit anywhere.

But she’d chosen them.

Except… lately something was bothering her. She’d acted jittery. On edge. Had been secretive.

When they’d asked her what was wrong, she’d said, “Nothing,” and changed the subject.

And now Kelsey was missing. Where in the world was she?

TWENTY

LAST CHANCE MOTEL

Digger stared at the news, sweat beading on his neck.

“This is Angelica Gomez from Channel Five News with this breaking story. Fifteen-year-old Kelsey Tiller has disappeared from her home in Whispering Pines early this morning. At this point, police are considering it a missing persons case. Search parties are combing the area surrounding her house, but we need your help, folks.” A photograph of the teenager appeared on screen, the reporter continuing, “If you have any information regarding her whereabouts or her disappearance, please call the police.”

Déjà vu struck him. This girl Kelsey was the same age as his sister when she died. Had the same heart-shaped face, same shoulder-length sandy-blond hair, same pretty eyes. Digger’s stomach knotted. Holy hell, the police might make the connection to him.

He flexed his hands and grimaced at the dirt that had settled beneath his fingernails. Last night was as foggy as the night Anna Marie died.

It was a bad idea going home, but he couldn’t help himself. He climbed in the jalopy and headed toward his old homestead. He didn’t know if it was still standing, or if his stepfather hadsold it. A little research and he’d discovered his brother lived in Crooked Creek. Ironic, but he was a cop. A cop who’d never bothered to visit him. Bitterness ate at his insides.

His stepfather worked construction with Red Clay Mountain Builders. He’d helped build the new Red Clay Mountain High School. They’d broken ground the year Anna Marie died and had planned to open the following fall.

Both his half brother and stepfather had believed he was a killer. Had looked at him with hatred and contempt.

Digger’s pulse pounded. First, he’d go to the old house. See if it was still standing, decaying with the memory of the violence that had happened there. If the walls still echoed with the shrill cry of his sister’s scream as she struggled to survive.

With his own sob of horror when he realized that he’d killed her.

TWENTY-ONE

WALNUT GROVE

Pansies, hydrangeas and sunflowers dotted the landscape with color and walnut trees lined the street along Walnut Avenue as Ellie found Mitch Drummond’s house. It didn’t escape her that his neighborhood bordered Whispering Pines where the missing girl had disappeared.

The traditional Colonial was set in a nice neighborhood that sported tennis courts, a clubhouse and pool. The stiff peaks and ridges in the distance were a sea of red, orange and yellow, and despite the rain clouds the area seemed brighter than most on Red Clay Mountain, as if the more affluent side of town was lit by hope instead of bound by poverty.

Money didn’t make for better people though. And you never knew what went on behind closed doors.

Thankfully the rain had died down and she rang the doorbell, noting a black Mercedes in the neighbor’s driveway and a silver Beamer in the Drummonds’. A dark-haired woman dressed in a tennis outfit and expensive designer tennis shoes opened the door, diamonds glittering from her ear lobes.

“Mrs. Drummond?”

“Yes.”

Ellie flashed her badge and identified herself. “I don’t know if you’ve heard but Kelsey Tiller, a girl from your son’s school, is missing. May I come in? I need to speak to him.”

The woman’s brown eyes narrowed. “Why do you want to see Mitch?”

Ellie stiffened at her condescending tone. “I’m speaking to students and teachers at the school. Please, it won’t take long.”

Mrs. Drummond’s frown deepened but she allowed Ellie to enter. “Wait here. I’ll get him.”

She disappeared down the hall and five minutes later, footsteps echoed on the polished wood floor. A tall man dressed in a khakis and a white button-down collared shirt appeared instead of Mitch, his jaw hard.

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